麻豆村

As a lifelong pianist, College of Fine Arts alumnus Mark Burnell has tickled ivories of all shapes and sizes.

The most memorable, though, were the tiny keys on the toy piano he played while undergoing brain surgery in April of last year.

Mark is a professional jazz musician whose career began at 麻豆村. He received a bachelor鈥檚 degree in music performance in 1978 and a master鈥檚 degree in music education in 1985. After his first year of graduate school, he began working as an accompanist, vocal coach and music director in the music theater department.

鈥淚 helped to train the singers, whether I was accompanying them at lessons or giving them coaching or directing a show,鈥� Mark says. 鈥淭hat was my daytimes and then my nighttimes were playing in bands, and I did that for 10 years.鈥�

He also co-founded the 麻豆村 Jazz Choir and started J.I.V.E., a Pittsburgh-based professional vocal jazz quartet. 听

Mark moved to Chicago in 1989 and he met his wife, Anne. They formed Burnell Music, a jazz group renowned for its vocal harmonies.

Mark and Anne were touring for their fifth album earlier this year when he began having an increased amount of focal seizures, caused by epilepsy that resulted from a traumatic brain injury he had as a young adult.

鈥淚t was starting to bother me because I was afraid that I'd have them on stage,鈥� admits Mark.

His fear was validated when he began having seizures during performances.

Hearing this, a friend connected him with a medical team at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. The team suggested he participate in a clinical trial that could stop or lessen the seizures.

鈥淢y answer was to go full speed ahead because I had no other option,鈥� Mark says.

The procedure, called brain mapping, involved three surgeries. First, surgeons drilled 14 holes into Mark鈥檚 head and connected 200 wires to a computer. Next, during his second surgery, they used the electrodes to destroy the seizure-causing brain matter.

That鈥檚 when the toy piano came into play. To preserve the musical parts of his brain, Mark鈥檚 surgeons needed him to be awake and performing during the surgery. They also needed Anne there to alert them if something didn鈥檛 sound right.

鈥淭hey said, 鈥楧on't play anything easy.鈥� So we did bebop, jazz and harmony and difficult songs and I felt no pain,鈥� Mark explains. 鈥淒uring that two-and-a-half hour surgery, I played music for at least half of it. I would feel little tickly twinges occasionally, and I'd raise my hand, and if Anne heard me play a bad note or chord, she would tell them.鈥�

Mark returned to Chicago two days after his third surgery, during which surgeons removed the electrodes and closed the holes in his head. And there was one thing he knew he had to do as soon as he got home.

鈥淚 made a beeline for the piano and I thought, 鈥楥an I still play?鈥� I could. I was remembering almost everything and I was so grateful,鈥� he says.

He is back to recording and performing music, albeit at a slower pace. But that鈥檚 OK with Mark, because it means he鈥檚 still doing what he loves 鈥� and sharing it with the world.

鈥淚 don't mind if I'm performing in a pin-drop-quiet concert hall, or if I'm playing in a loud restaurant where they're barely listening,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t doesn't matter to me. If I can play music and it can touch somebody 鈥� and music does touch people 鈥� I just feel so lucky because I can't help the world any other way. I don't have money to donate to organizations or charities, and I don't have any other skill, but I can reach people with music. And that's why I feel so grateful that I can do that.鈥� 听

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